"Party Games," a Fear Street Novel Is a Cool Teenage Tale of Ghosts, Greed and Twisted High School Pranks

 

Geared for teenagers, the novel "Party Games" literally works for all ages, including elementary school aged children.

Goosebumps writing guru R.L. Stine converts the mayhem of murder, occultism and many other twisted adult themes into a smart package appropriate for even children to open for a PG rated scare. "Party Games" is number 52 of Stines Fear Street novels. Until I borrowed this novel from the young adult section of my local library, I knew nothing of the Fear Street books.

Some of the happenings in "Party Games" are a bit vague and needed some more explanation for me, but having never read any of the first 51 Fear Street novels, Stine's brilliant writing doesn't require the reader to have read the previous books. An example of this was the burial pit in the middle of the woods. Did ancient Fear family members hunt down their servants for fun, then bury them in the woods?

"Party Games" takes place in a town called Shadyside which has an eccentric wealthy family know as the Fears with a torrid history. Some say the Fear ancestors were witches, maybe even sorcerers with evil powers.

Brendan Fear is the ideal male for Rachel Martin, the two are both high school students and when Martin is personally invited to Fear's over-night 18th birthday party, she is more than willing to go to his parents mansion on a nearby island. The night before Martin is to go to the party on Fear island, she finds a dead decaying rat at the foot of her bed as she climbs into bed.

While at the party Martin finds out that a few other girls found dead animals at the foot of their beds the night before boating to Fear island. Brendan Fears party starts out with the young adults eating pizza, sipping from the keg and basking in extremely loud music. The conflict begins when Brendan's game of 'Total Panic' begins.

With no Wi-Fi, land lines or cell phone coverage on Fear island the tension mounts when various party-goers start disappearing and Martin encounters the ghost of a Fear ancestor, Victoria Fear sowing herself together. Victoria in life was a taxidermist, people who stuff dead animals for display. Martin indeed terrified by the grey face of Victoria and her patchy white hair cascading down her hollowed cheeks, has trouble convincing the others she saw Victoria's ghost, if indeed she really saw the ghost.

Just when the reader thinks the horror is over the story does a 180 degree turn into a mean tale of greed and an unpredictable conclusion. This is the first Stine book I've read, and it's easy to see why he is a New York Times best selling writer. "Party Games" was a three star refreshing read and illustrated to me why the Goosebumps novels are so popular.

"Party Games" was released on September 30 and the book jacket states a Goosebumps movie is coming out with Jack Black staring as Stine.